Mercy Mercy

New wine bar to open in late January

At first glance the link between Roy Orbison and wine isn't obvious. He did record the song "Lonely Wine," and the tune "All I Have to Do Is Dream" does contain the line "I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine, any time..." But it's hard to imagine that old Roy got his goggles sloshed up with runaway Bordeaux swirl. Yet Glen Agritelley, owner of T Bar M Racquet Club and an avid collector of Orbison memorabilia, has named his new wine bar at Belt Line Road and the Tollway "Mercy" after Roy's quip of the word in the song "Pretty Woman." Set to open in late January in Village on the Parkway, Mercy will be a hybrid bar-swanky lounge serving beer and wine, the latter primarily from California and Italy. Mercy will also offer a menu of small plates crafted by chef Jeff Ferguson, who has done stints at Jeroboam and Star Canyon. In addition to wine, managing partner Tim Harle says Mercy will have an acute emphasis on music--an eclectic mix, he assures. "I'd say it's from Mozart to Meatloaf," he says. Dean Martin, too, he adds, though the link to Dean and wine is probably harder to draw than the link to Roy, which isn't to say Dean may not have sipped a La Tâche from a tumbler on the rocks from time to time.

Some day--soon, we hope--global tapas will emerge as a viable concept with a life span greater than that of a mayfly. After all, Bevin Holman's Geode lasted just a couple of months while Avner Samuel's Bibendum barely lasted two weeks. But Zach Hopkins, a one-time general manager at Angeluna in downtown Fort Worth, thinks he's hit on the right combo, specifically Urban Tapas, a global nibble fest featuring Pacific Rim, New American, South American, Mediterranean and Caribbean influences. Designed to look like a SoHo loft, Urban Tapas is emerging in the new downtown taking shape in Colleyville, a city that didn't get an urban center as standard equipment when it was originally manufactured. Drafting the menu is Alexander Kybett, who has cooked at the Mercury, Il Solé and Salvé...Cuba Libre creator Tristan Simon has installed his operating partner Monte Morris as chief operating officer of Genghis Grills after Simon picked up a 50 percent stake in the Dallas-based create-your-own-stir-fry Mongolian grills founded by Jeff Sinelli...The Associated Press is reporting that two people in Watertown, New York, are filing suit against a Domino's Pizza alleging emotional harm, anxiety, psychological and mental distress and negligence. What kind of pizza could generate all of that? One with pepperoni and a dash of pubic hair. The aggrieved claim they got small wiry hairs stuck in their teeth as they bit into their order last November. Where's Clarence Thomas when you need him?